FROM AMIENS TO COMPIÈGNE
Lunch at Montdidier.
The roads to be followed are shown by heavy lines.
Detailed sketch maps are incorporated in the text.
AMIENS TO COMPIÈGNE
See route-map, p. 57.
From Amiens to Villers-Bretonneux
via Longueau, Gentelles and Cachy.
Leave Amiens by Exit V (Michelin Tourist Guide) (Rue Jules-Barni, Chaussée Périgord and N. 35). Cross the railway twice (l.c.) or if preferred, take the road on the right under the railway. Longueau is soon reached.
The road from Amiens to the crossing over the river Avre, before reaching Longueau, follows the left bank of the Somme. Market-gardens famous for their fertility and known locally as "hortillonnages" lie in the valley, especially around Camon. Formerly, the river-side seigneurs above Amiens, met once a year for wild swan-shooting in the valley of the Somme. The custom died out in the 18th century, poaching having by then exterminated the swans.
It was at Longueau that the Roman roads from Amiens to Rheims and to St. Quentin crossed the river Avre. Gallo-Roman tombstones were discovered in 1848, while excavating near the first bridge at Longueau. In 1590, the Leaguers held the village to ransom, and the Spaniards burnt it in 1636.
Beyond Longueau, leave the Montdidier road on the right, and keep straight along the road to Roye for 4½ kms. Take the second road on the left, to Gentelles. Gun emplacements, shelters and trenches are met with on both sides of the road. Gentelles Wood is on the right. (See sketch-map, p. 59).
Pass through Gentelles village, entirely destroyed. 1½ kms. beyond Gentelles stands a partly destroyed monument to the memory of the French who fell in the Franco-German War of 1870 (photo below).
Monument to the French dead of 1870, at entrance to Cachy.
Leave the monument on the right, and enter Cachy (completely ruined).
Ruins of Cachy Church.
At the fork beyond Cachy, take the middle road, between the Woods of Aquenne and Abbé, in which are trenches, wire entanglements and shelters. Coming out into the main road from Amiens to Villers-Bretonneux (G.C. 201), take same on the right. (See sketch-map, p. 62).
After passing over the railway, Villers-Bretonneux is reached.
Villers-Bretonneux.—Ruins of the Village and Church.
Villers-Bretonneux. The Church, in May 1918.
Formerly a country village, the cotton-spinning industry later transformed it into a small town. The war has left it in ruins. (See p. 61.)
Villers-Bretonneux. Church in Nov. 1918.
Street in Villers-Bretonneux after recapture of the village.
From Villers-Bretonneux to Moreuil,
via Demuin, Hill 104, Mézières and Villers-aux-Érables.
Leave Villers-Bretonneux by the road to Demuin, on the right (G.C. 23).
See route-map, p. 62.
From Hill 98, 1 km. beyond the railway, near the junction with the road leading to Cachy, and close to a Franco-British cemetery, there is an extensive view of the battlefield around Villers-Bretonneux.
Franco-British Cemetery near Hill 98.
In the background: Villers-Bretonneux.
